Walking Tour of the Old Town

Main Square Gamla Stan: the oldest city square in the Old Town of Stockholm

What was on the agenda for today? A free walking tour of Gamla Stan, the Old Town section of the City of Stockholm. "Gamla Stan" is Swedish for "Old Town" and it is the name of this part of town, which is a small island in the archipelago of Stockholm.

The tour was meeting at Gustav Adolphs Torg, Gustavus Adolphus Square, which was not too much of a walk from my hotel. I had a little time so I detoured to take in this sculpture en route:

Orfeusgruppen. By noted Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. He lived from 1875 to 1955. His "thing" was sculpting figures who look like they are going to float up into the heavens. Except they can't. Because they're sculpted metal and, being heavier than air, gravity keeps them grounded. Even though they look they could defy gravity if they wanted. 

First stop on the tour was the Parliament building. Crossing the first bridge into Gamla Stan, look to the right and there was the City Hall. Look to the left and there is the Royal Opera House.

Also known as: Kungliga Operan. The tour met in front of said opera house.

I like these free walking tours. Number one: they're free. Number two, as if you need a number two after that number one, the guides are usually very knowledgeable of local and national history. This is the now-sealed-tight entrance into the Parliament building, or the Riksdagshuset.

Angels on the roof of the Parliament building. The Parliament, technically, is not in Gamla Stan. It's on its own island, Helgeandshomen, just north of Gamla Stan. 

Which means a short bridge from the Parliament building into Gamla Stan proper.

Stallbron.

And a look right, to the west, provides another view of City Hall.

And with that we are in Gamla Stan proper. First stop: dormitories:

But dormitories for who? There is no university nearby. These are the dormitories for members of the Parliament. The rent is cheap: 400 euros a month for a room in the expensive capital city in Europe.

I believe this is the Riddarholmen Church straight ahead. It has a lattice-like iron roof.

If that indeed is the Riddarholmen Church, and I have no reason to doubt my internet sleuthing on the identity of said church, that would be where lots of Swedish royalty is buried. Except for their only Catholic queen. Who is buried in St. Peter's in Vatican City. Which, in my opinion, when it comes to burial places, is a much fancier zip code for spending eternity.

Is this a water fountain? I am guessing that, at least at one time, it was. It has that look.

Next was a walk down the narrowest street in all of Gamla Stan.

Not for the wide-bodies. Not ADA accessible. Old World Europe can be so non-compliant.

This is a wide boulevard by comparison:

Which leads to a statue of a boy and a horse.

This is Tyska stallplan. "Stall" means "stable." I think this is the locale where Alfred Nobel stabled his horses. You know, the Nobel of the Nobel Prize and all that, but I could be imaging things. 

And that leads to a replica of the statue of St. George slaying the dragon. Sankt Göran och draken.

 

It's a replica. The original is in the Cathedral. And it is fraught with symbolism. Dragons, in European culture, symbolize demons and evil. This was sculpted during the Kalmar union period of 1397 to 1523, when the three kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark were ruled under the domination of the Danes. Sweden was chafing under the Danish yoke. And the dragon symbolized the evil ... of Denmark?

And speaking of statuary fraught with symbolism:

The smallest statue in Stockholm: Järnpojken: the Iron Boy, Pojke som tittar på månen: the Boy who stares at the moon. Let's go in for a closer look.

Finally, the tour ends at the Royal Palace.

Today is the 77th birthday of the King of Sweden: Carl XVI Gustaf.

This is a different King Carl, Carl XIV Johans, On horseback, overlooking a harbor. 

That's the National Museum in the distance, across the water.

The ceremony was to feature the Royal Orchestra riding in on horseback. No royal orchestra on horseback. But here are members of the Royal Orchestra traveling by bus.

By the way, King Carl XVI Gustaf is married to Queen Silvia. You know Sweden's Queen Silvia, even if you think you don't. She is the famous Dancing Queen of Abba fame.

And here are members of the Royal Orchestra ready to march in, assembling under the Gustav III obelisk.

But, alas, we did not see them enter the Royal Palace complex on horseback. Maybe some other King Carl XVI Gustaf birthday.

And that is the end of the Free Walking Tour.

Time to rest my feet. No dancing with the Dancing Queen of Sweden for me today. (The second embedded link is the Swedish Royal Military Orchesta playing Abba's only U.S. number one hit.)